Opportunity Beckons

The focus for Samata Mahila Society activities is a suburban, walled hostel where 80 girls – aged between 11 and 17 – live and attend local schools. We spent four days around the buzzing hostel. Throngs of girls were washing clothes, combing hair, helping to cook,
serve or wash dishes. We watched them sweep floors, winnow rice, water plants; agile feet always on the move: hugs, play and the occasional tear. There were set times for homework, and for collective activity, including some impressive classical dancing and singing. In the afternoon lull we might see a solitary girl revising, while others took a nap after the 7am school start.

Such a contrast to how their lives might have been – in a restrictive village or cramped slum. The hostel has three wardens, a cook, an accountant and an armed watchman, the only man, to protect them.

New Girls

: Nikita

: Priya

Two village girls new to the hostel, Nikita and Priya, were often seen playing together. Since their father’s death three years ago, Priya and her siblings have been brought up by their mother, a nurse, with help from an uncle. Priya’s family is Buddhist, she is confident and forthcoming about her home situation; while Nikita, one of six children from the shoe-making caste, is more tentative.

I learnt more about Nikita from Pratibha, the senior warden: ‘Nikita’s father regularly disappears after bouts of heavy drinking. When Nikita arrived at the hostel her mother wept to part from her daughter; and at first Nikita used to cry alone in the corner.’ Later Nikita’s father came to visit. Pratibha urged him to pay attention to his daughter. “Parents visiting have a good effect on their child. Nikita needs her father’s love.” He took my words seriously, and has now visited twice.’

: Life in the hostels inludes classical dancing

Struck by Pratibha’s audacity, I asked if speaking out got her into trouble. ‘Mostly speaking my mind has helped. We had one child from divorced parents whose mother asked us not to let her father visit. But he came and I spoke to him. A while later he returned with the mother, now they’re living together again! Situations like that need guidance.’

I asked the two new girls how they were settling in.
Priya: ‘At first I felt lonely but the warden and other girls were very welcoming. There’s a good atmosphere in the hostel.’
Nikita: ‘I also felt lonely because I was used to sleeping with my mother, but I wasn’t nervous.
Priya: ‘Compared to my home the hostel is so quiet. It encourages me to study. There are girls here from my own village so I’m not homesick. Nikita and I do lots together – we study and draw, play rhythm and sing. I liked my new school from the start: such a big building with only girls; my village school was very small, with boys and girls together.’
Nikita: ‘I’ve started to make friends now, in the hostel and at the city school.’

: The girls help to cook and serve meals

Both girls went home for the Diwali break.
Nikita: ‘I didn’t want to go home at first, and kept longing for the hostel. I can’t play at home. In the hostel everything happens on time. At home there’s no order!’
Priya: ‘In the beginning I found the studies difficult. But by the first exams I came sixth in the class. Now I can compete with others. I want to study seriously and come top. In the hostel we help each other with our studies, and the wardens help us too.’
Nikita: ‘I also want to be first in class, and I like to help my friends study.’
Priya: ‘When I leave school I want to be a doctor; I’d like to help sick people. But
I don’t know how because my family has no money. For medical studies you need
to speak English.’
Nikita: ‘Because of this hostel I can be educated. I can become someone and earn money. If I’d stayed in the village I don’t know what would have happened. I’d probably have married very young. We’re very lucky.’

These bright, motivated girls were recommended as some of the most needy who could benefit from the hostel. The hostel staff and facilities, together with the schooling the girls
get, clearly offer a great opportunity in a country where women from disadvantaged backgrounds have very few chances to fulfill their potential.

A Senior Student

: Shipla at home with her mother

While these girls have recently joined the hostel, 16-year-old Shilpa is nearing the end of her stay. If she’d remained in her one-roomed home with three siblings and her mostly absent – and often drunk – father, she probably wouldn’t have thrived.

‘I’ve enjoyed the hostel atmosphere very much. And because the wardens give tuition I’ve done OK in my studies.’

The wardens’ help extends far beyond tuition: when Shilpa was seriously ill with jaundice the hostel wardens visited the hospital regularly. ‘I hope to do a teacher training course. If I don’t get admitted, I'll apply for the Navy or Air Force, because I want a career. Meanwhile I’m helping the younger girls in their studies.’

We arranged to visit Shilpa’s family on the edge of Nagpur. Shilpa’s home is a semi-detached room for four to six people, 8ft by 12ft, dominated by a bed. Two sleep on the bed, one beside, and another at the foot by the cooking rings. And when Shilpa or her father stay there? ‘We make do.’

Her mother is convinced the hostel has been a good home for Shilpa, enabling her to do well in school. ‘She’d have had to do more housework here. The TV next door is very loud and with five people in this room it would be hard to concentrate on studying.’

Shilpa’s brother left school early and is now a mechanic. Little more than a youth himself, he’s taking on a father’s responsibility. ‘I’ll help Shilpa if she wants to further her education. If there’s not enough money I’ll work at night too.’

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